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Eiffel Tower in popular culture
The Eiffel Tower has appeared frequently in works of fiction because of its iconic nature. Movie critic Roger Ebert has noted in his online column that no matter where in Paris a film scene is set the Eiffel Tower will be visible in the background.[http://www.rogerebert.com 40 Things That Only Happen in the Movies] Ebert's comment was meant in jest, but scenes in movies such as The Longest Day with gratuitous use of the Tower in the background lend credence to the joke. Major plot element In some cases the tower is the key plot element or a significant plot element. *'1949' In The Man on the Eiffel Tower, the tower plays a central role, and the climax involves a climbing chase that predates the Mount Rushmore scene in North by Northwest. *'1951' In The Lavender Hill Mob, models of the tower are central to the plot, and the climax takes place on the real tower. *'1960' In Zazie dans le Métro a chase scene takes place on the stairs and crossbars of the tower. *'1980' John Denis' novel The Hostage Tower (written under Alistair Maclean) features an audacious scheme to capture the tower and use the threat of its destruction to extort millions from the French government. The story was adapted into a telemovie of the same name. *'1985' The James Bond film A View to a Kill contains a scene in the tower, including scenes in the Jules Verne restaurant there (filmed elsewhere), a fight on the stairway, and a BASE jump off the top of the tower as Bond (played for the last time by Roger Moore) chased a masked hitman who had just killed the French secret agent that Bond was meeting with (the killer was later revealed as May Day, played by Grace Jones). The video for the title song feature the members of Duran Duran as assassins and spies in or around the tower. http://www.007.info/FactfileAVTAK.asp *'1995' The third season finale of Highlander: The Series, "Finale part 2", Duncan MacLeod defeats the Immortal Kalas atop the tower. *'2007' Featured in Rush Hour 3 as the climax battle. Portions of the fight was actual footage of the famous landmark, whilst other sequences were replicated built sets. *'2007' The plot of the mystery Murder on the Eiffel Tower: A Victor Legris Mystery by Claude Izner involves a murder on the tower, during the Paris Exposition of 1889. Destruction of the tower In a notable subtype, the action of all or part of the work centers around the real or threatened destruction of the tower. *'1965' In The Great Race Jack Lemmon's character Professor Fate misfires a cannon, which causes the tower's collapse at the end of the film. *'1987' In The Real Ghostbusters episode The Ghostbusters in Paris, it is revealed that the Eiffel Tower was a massive Containment Unit to store ghosts, long before the Ghostbusters developed present day ghostbusting equipment. *'1992' In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode Tower of Power, Krang has a giant electromagnet, and wants to use it to pull the Technodrome from its Dimension X asteroid location by using the Eiffel Tower as an antenna. The Eiffel Tower begins to be pulled loose from its foundations and towards the dimensional portal. At the last minute, Donatello destroys the generator and the Eiffel Tower falls down to the ground undamaged. *'1992' In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode Rust Never Sleeps, Bebop and Rocksteady blast metals with Krangs "oxidizer rocket". The "oxidizer rocket" was originally planned by Krang to use to send the Technodrome to Earth, and when it failed, Krang thinks that it can be used by threatening to rust metal if the people don't surrender to Krang and Shredder. Even the Eiffel Tower gets blasted, and begins to collapse from rust. In the end, Donatello reverses Krang's device to turn the metals back to normal. *'1995' In the real-time strategy game of Command & Conquer, the tower is one of four selectable targets for the Global Defense Initiative's hijacked Ion Cannon weapon, during the ending sequence of the Brotherhood of Nod campaign. *'1996' The tower appears in the Paris level in the PlayStation game Twisted Metal 2. The tower can be blown up using a remote bomb and falls as a bridge to other buildings. *'1999' In the French Sentai amateur series France Five, the destruction of the tower in the main objective of the evil empire Lexos, as it generates a barrier around the planet that keeps it from sending armies en masse. *'2004' In Godzilla: Final Wars, Kamacuras attacks the tower. *'2004' In Team America: World Police, a rocket blows up the tower, and it crushes the Arc de Triomphe. *'2008' The History Channel's "Life After People" features the collapse of the tower around 200 years after the disappearance of humans, due to corrosion. *'2009' G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra depicts the tower being destroyed by a rapidly expanding cloud of metal-eating nanomachines. Destruction of the city, or the world In another notable sub-type, the tower and its destruction is used as a symbol of the real or threatened destruction of the city, or the world. *'1953' In The War of the Worlds, the tower and most (if not all) of Paris is destroyed by the martian attack. The tower can be seen in ruin at the end of the film depicting the death of the martians. *'1980' In Superman II, the tower (and the rest of Paris) are almost blown up by a terrorist nuclear bomb, and Lois Lane almost plunges to her death under its elevator. In the original 1977 script, one of the 3 Supervillains, Non, was originally supposed to destroy the tower with his heat vision. *'1996' The tower can be seen on TV in Independence Day (film), as the UFO lands on the tip of the structure. *'1996' In Mars Attacks!, the tower is melted/destroyed by Martians. *'1996' In Command & Conquer: Red Alert during the Allied campaign there is a mission where the player must stop a series of nuclear missiles from reaching Europe, if the Player fails these missions, a cutscene will play, showing a missile landing in paris with the eiffel tower in the foreground and detonating, creating an Enormous Mushroom cloud, and the Eiffel tower can be seen melting before the heat of the blast. *'1997' In the Simpsons episode Treehouse of Horror VIII the tower was used in the segment The HΩmega Man by the French government as a nuclear launch site to detonate a missile on Springfield. *'1998' The tower, along with Paris, is destroyed by a meteorite in Armageddon. *In posters promoting the 2004 film The Day After Tomorrow, the tower is depicted frozen in another ice age, with snow almost covering the base. *In the 2005 Hallmark film Supernova, lightning bolts from a supernova fry the Eiffel Tower. *'2006' The Eiffel Tower is destroyed along with numerous other landmarks in Category 7: The End of the World. *'2007' 28 Weeks Later ends with people infected with the fictional Rage Virus heading towards the Eiffel Tower. *'2007' The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite reveals the Eiffel Tower to be in reality a spaceship, piloted by a zombified version of Gustave Eiffel. Later, in the nearly world ending finale, the Eiffel tower falls out of the sky destroying the Umbrella Academy's base. *In the '''2008' film The Day the Earth Stopped, the top of the tower is destroyed by a giant robot. *'2009' The game cover of Resistance: Retribution features the Eiffel Tower and sections of Paris invaded by the Chimera. Embodiment of Paris In others, the tower is used as an embodiment of Paris, the symbol of the city, to set the scene for a film or other work centered on the city. *'1923' René Clair's Paris qui dort starts, ends and has many scenes on the tower. *'1939' In Ninotchka an involved flirtation takes place around a discussion of finding the Eiffel Tower around the 26 minute time point. *'1958' At the beginning of François Truffaut's The 400 Blows, the tower is seen between Parisian apartment blocks. *'1964' In Paris When It Sizzles, Richard's movie within the movie is called "The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower" and several key scenes take place there. *'1995' In French Kiss, Kate misses seeing the tower several times while she wanders around Paris, but later spends several minutes rapturously watching it while on the train to Cannes (from which line it is not possible to see the tower). *'1995' In Forget Paris, Miki and Ellen are shown in front of the tower numerous times throughout the film. *'2003' In The Real World Paris television show on the US MTV network, the tower is seen. Symbol of Paris In yet others, as a symbol of the city in a more peripheral way. *'1953' At the end of The War of the Worlds, the tower is seen destroyed. *'1965' At the end of the Blake Edwards' The Great Race,http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059243/ starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, the tower is blown up by a misfired cannon shot from Professor Fate's car. *'1965' In Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines the remaining competitors (Orvil Newton and Richard Mays) are shown flying past the base of the tower when they arrive in Paris. Spectators are also shown crowded on top of the tower during this segment. *'1967' In The Beatles song, 'I Am the Walrus', a character called 'Semolina Pilchard' climbs the tower. *'1968–2001' A miniature tower is the home of the puppet Grandpere in Mister Rogers' Neighborhood of Make-Believe. *'1970' The tower is shown in the classic animated film The Aristocats. *'1979' In the Doctor Who serial City of Death, several scenes were filmed at the Tower, including the final scene of the final part of the serial. *'1985' In National Lampoon's European Vacation, Clark throws Rusty's beret off the tower. A dog, thinking it is a frisbee, jumps after it. Because a PG-13 was sought, the dog's life is saved by landing in a pond at the bottom of the tower. *'1992' The tower was the logo of the bid of Paris for the 1992 Summer Olympics.http://www.aldaver.com/Images/Osb/92/lg1992p1.jpg Familiar visual element Other uses, to establish the tower simply as a well known visual element. *'1994' In the French film Un indien dans la ville (aka Little Indian, Big City) 13-year-old Mimi-Siku (Ludwig Briand) who has been raised by a Native South American tribe, climbs partway up the tower in tribal costume. (The film was remade in English in 1997 as Jungle 2 Jungle, but the venue is changed to New York City and Mimi-Siku climbs the Statue of Liberty.) *'1995' In La Haine, the main protagonists lament the fact that they cannot switch the lights of the tower off like people can in the movies. The lights switch off just after they have given up and turned their backs on the tower. *'2001' In Moulin Rouge!, a pistol thrown from Montmartre by Christian (Ewan McGregor) during the finale bounces off the tower underneath the smiling moon. Other appearances *'1977' The tower appears in background shots in Wim Wenders's The American Friend *'1980' The song "Sexy Eiffel Tower", by the pop group Bow Wow Wow. *'1981' Condorman attempts to fly off the tower in the movie by the same name. *'1984' Robert J. Moriarty flew a Beechcraft V-35 Bonanza, N111MS, owned by Mike Smith of Mike Smith Speed Conversions in Johnson City, Kansas, through the arches under the Eiffel Tower in Paris.http://www.airandspacemagazine.com/ASM/Web/Site/QT/Eiffel.htmlvideo *''' 1996 - In the 1996 PlayStation game Twisted Metal 2 Players are able blow up the Eiffel Tower using a Remote Bomb *'1997 - current' Programs on the Fashion TV channel are headed by an animated Eiffel Tower logo complete with lighting display, accompanied by the words "MichelAdam Presents". *'1998' The tower is stolen by Rex the Runt and his associates in order to replace Blackpool Tower after it is destroyed by an explosion at Bob's International Hiccup Centre following Doctor Dog's takeover of the facility. After the Eiffel Tower is put into place at Blackpool Beach, the Union Jack is flown from its top and Bad Bob comments that "no one will even notice the difference." *'1998' The tower becomes a featured Santa Cam location for the annual NORAD Tracks Santa tracking effort.NORAD Tracks Santa - Dec 2009 - Paris, France - English from YouTube *'1999' The Bloodhound Gang's singe The Bad Touch music video, the Eiffel Tower can be seen in many shots. *'2000' In Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, the babies are atop the tower while using the giant Reptar invention. *'2000' In the real-time strategy game of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, Soviet forces turn the tower into a giant, extremely long ranged, incredibly powerful, and rapid firing tesla coil capable of destroying all French forces in the area and a major portion of the city. For copyright reasons, it is called the "Paris Tower" in the game, and has a radical change in design, however enough of the original design remains for the tower to be recognized. *'2000' The Eiffel Tower makes a couple of appearances in Max Steel; in overhead shots of the city, the building the European N-Tek base is located under, and the scene where an hour-long EMP is almost used. *'2001' In The Royal Tenenbaums, the tower appears reflected on the window in a brief scene of Margot Tenenbaum (Gwyneth Paltrow) with her French lover. *'2001' In Beyblade, The Eiffel tower is the arena to two battles in episode 33 and 34 of season 1. *'2003' The tower is seen in the Paris map of Midnight Club. *'2003' In The Core, the tower is seen when the Earth's electromagnetic field repairs itself. *'2003' The tower features in Looney Tunes: Back in Action. *'2003' In Le Divorce the tower features on the movie promo poster and is also mentioned a few times in the film. Two mentions are due to the purported tour guide audio for the tower being audible in the soundtrack. *'2003' The Deathray Davies song "The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower" *'2004' In Van Helsing, the tower is under construction. *'2004' In Onimusha 3: Demon Siege, the tower is turned into a stronghold time-portal built by Genma Head-Scientist Guildenstein. *'2004' The tower flies and moves around Paris in the puppet version of Without a Paddle, in a scene that starts only after the credits end. *'2004' The tower is seen in Eurotrip, and mentioned when a protagonist asks whether they should "check out the huge line at the Eiffel Tower". *'2005' The tower features in A View from the Eiffel Tower by Montenegrin director Nikola Vukčević. *'2005' In Evil Genius, the tower can be shrunk and stolen. *'2005' The tower can be built as a World Wonder in Civilization IV. *'2005' In Munich the tower can be seen in the background. *'2006' In the game Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII, part of the French Resistance level requires the player to destroy German anti-aircraft guns on and around the tower. *'2005' In the BBC documentary End Days, when the accelerator of particles is destroyed, natural disaster hit Europe. The Eiffel Tower is seen on television when the hole reaches Europe. *'2007' In Mr. Bean's Holiday, Mr. Bean goes past the tower in a taxi. *'2008' In Impact, The Tower was seen when comets flying all over The Tower and A News Broadcaster standing right in front of the Tower. *'2008' In NYC: Tornado Terror, After destroying New York City, the tornado moves east towards Paris. A small tornado forms right in front of the tower and the green electricity that previously appeared in New York appears on the Tower briefly. References Category:Paris in fiction Category:Topics in popular culture Category:A View to a Kill